Desert Playwrights' Retreat Unveils October 2023 Cohorts

The Desert Playwrights' Retreat, an LGBTQ writing retreat hosted in Palm Springs, has announced the playwrights chosen for its October 2023 cohorts.

Established in 2018 by playwright and dramaturg Sean Abley, the Desert Playwrights' Retreat is a week-long, fully funded, all-expenses-paid writing retreat for LGBTQ playwrights. The company recently partnered with In The Margin, a San Francisco-based theater company, to expand their reach and mission of LGBTQ artistic advocacy.

Unique in its approach to curating participants, Desert Playwrights' Retreat asks interested writers to self-identify when applying (gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans). The artists chosen gather in housing based on identity, but cross-pollinate frequently throughout the week during communal meals and work-sharing sessions. "Even in the larger LGBTQ community, sometimes it's nice to gather with a smaller group of fellow artists with whom you most closely share a common experience. So for instance, while at the Retreat all the gay playwrights share a house, all the trans playwrights share a house, etc.," Abley explains. "But after a long day of quiet writing, coming together as one big LGBTQ Retreat family for meals, sharing work, and nonstop conversations about theater, feels like one celebration after another."

The Retreat is held twice a year - April and October. Playwrights chosen for the October 2023 Trans cohort are both Los Angeles-based artists: Playwright and novelist Jack MacCarthy, who also works as an archivist with the OutWords Archive, preserving LGBTQ history via the stories of queer elders; and Cameron Laventura, playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker.

Playwrights chosen for the Gay Men's cohort are: playwright, director, performer, and Artistic Director of Fuse Theatre Ensemble in Portland, OR, Rusty Newton Tennant; and Larry Dean Harris, spoken word artist and producer of the long-running Los Angeles / Palm Springs-based "Strong Words" performance series.

They're joined by returning playwrights: Desert Playwrights' Retreat founder Sean Abley; Desert Playwrights' Retreat Co-Director of Trans Cohorts, Los Angeles-based playwright and performer Natalie Nicole Dressel; Howard Skora (Los Angeles-based playwright, director and producer); Daniel "Rover" Singer (co-writer of The Complete Works of Wm. Shakespeare (Abridged) and co-founder of the Reduced Shakespeare Company); Fermin Rojas, a Provincetown, MA-based documentarian and playwright; and Joan Lipkin, a playwright and lyricist who divides her time between NYC and St. Louis, where she was recently honored with the "Lifetime Influence Award" by Out in STL magazine.

Past participants include former Dramatist Guild Executive Director and current Provincetown Theater Managing Director, Gary Garrison; Best-selling author, playwright and screenwriter, R. Eric Thomas (Congratulations, the Best is Over); playwright and educator C. Julian Jimenez (Locusts Have No King, ¡OSO FABULOSO! & The Bear Backs, Bruise & Thorn and Ronald Reagan Murdered My Mentors.)

LGBTQ playwrights interested in applying for future cohorts, and donors interested in making tax-deductible donations, should visit www.desertplaywrightsretreat.com for more info and the DPR donation portal.

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